Dyslexia advice

[flowerycurtain]

Hello.

Ds is 6 and coming to the end of y1

Since mid year reception school have been making noises about underlying issues with reading and writing. Dyslexia has been mentioned. We have a strong family history of it on both sides.

He is in a small group of 3 to back up his phonics.

The school are telling me it can't be diagnosed before y2. They screen every child and then recommend a specialist assessments where necessary.

I'm worried that will all take months - also the BDA seem to be saying now they can diagnose earlier. The early months are so vital I don't want him to get too behind.

Should we just go ahead and get him assessed anyway? Then we can be in a position to discuss straight from sept what he needs from school and also look at some specialist tuition over the summer.

Any advice from people who have been through it would be great please.

[SunshineSpring]

There is a fb site called "dyslexic help and support uk" which may get you more answers. If he is bright, the screen may say not at risk, because in the early stages they can compensate. Obviously compensating gets harder and harder as the work gets more complicated (its taken 4 years of mentioning things to get an diagnosis of dyslexia and dysgraphia - 2 teachers screened, and said no, third adamant he wasn't - not in UK, so needed school approved referal)

[bruffin]

DS is dyslexic and his reading "clicked" in year 2, still has a few other problems associated with dyslexia, ie cant spell and short term memory problems. He never got formally diagnosed with dyslexia, but still got extra help all the way through primary and extra time for exams before they changed the rules. A lot of his scores are average but he is very intelligent and scores in top 10% to 5%in CATs etc

However sounds like your ds is already getting help, so im not sure what type of extra help you think he will get with a diagnosis, which can be really expensive

[MigGril]

If you can afford to get him assessed I would do. You have a strong family history and he's showing issues already.

Waiting doesn't make much sense, he could either struggle or end up not being assessed. My sister waited with my nice with all the same indicators she just end up more behind. Even though the school said they where putting in interventions. She's now way behind in year 7. It's much harder for them to catch up at a latter date then to have help from early on.
I've kept a very close eye on my own children and luckly they haven't had any issues. But my DD I'm sure is very mildly dyslexic I haven't felt the need to have her assesed but only because she's ahead in her year. I can see the memory issues she somtimes struggles with though as it's me who's dyslexic in our family.

Getting an early assessment will mean you are clear on what the issues are and what help is needed exactly. Also this may seem like a long way off but the earlier things are in place the stronger exam intervention help will be avaible.

[Motorcyclemptiness]

My DS was diagnosed at age 6. Pm me if you like?

[bruffin]

You need to ask the school what difference would it make with a diagnosis.
He is getting extra help with phonics now anyway, so not sure what else you think will happen with a diagnosis now rather than in in year 2.

[IdaDown]

I’m not sure that ‘screening’ is a good identifier of dyslexia (and other SpLDs).

The computer tests are not as reliable as a trained specialist.

A specialist will be trained and qualified to administer, score and diagnose. Not all learning support/Sencos/Ed Psychs are.

A formal diagnosis gives you safeguards for accommodations that an informal ‘we’ll help you’ can never do.

[bruffin]

do these "trained specialists" ever not diagnose someone with dyslexia?

[Motorcyclemptiness]

Yes they do; they are ed psychs and dyslexia assessors not charlatans and testing differentiates between dyslexia and lack of underlying ability.

[Moorcroft]

I assess for dyslexia, but not before the age of 7 years. This is because I like to be sure that the children have had at least 2 years of systematic synthetic phonics teaching.

@bruffin - I frequently tell individuals that they do not have dyslexia. What would I have to gain from making an inaccurate diagnosis?

I’m not sure that ‘screening’ is a good identifier of dyslexia (and other SpLDs)..

Screening misses about 20% of individuals with dyslexia

[stucknoue]

Dd was diagnosed in year 1, but her support didn't change, the school provided it on need not diagnosis. Formal diagnosis is mostly needed for exams, many years off. Rather than money on diagnosis see if there's a Saturday dyslexia school locally, we found it brilliant and a lot cheaper than a private tutor. It's about getting them strategies to manage- dd is about to take a levels, she still can't spell well but science and maths don't need as much spelling!

[flowerycurtain]

Thanks everyone. Particularly Moorcroft. Also like the sound of dyslexia school! We're pretty rural so I think it would be hard to find that for us.

The school do have a learning support dept so going to to contact them over the half term to see what they say.

[Flyingarcher]

Hi. I too screen and test for dyslexia and don't really test before aged 7. The tests themselves (non of which are perfect) are less calibrated for the lower age groups. To be honest, a label at this stage isn't going to change his provision by the school. He is presenting with signs of dyslexia, you are happily accepting that ( the number of parents I get that don't...), the school have put provision in place that is meeting his needs so all good. Look at a Saturday school or tutoring - it can really help. Over learning, pre teaching and use kinaesthetic methods at home like making words out of dough, using magnetic letters. Also Toe by Toe is excellent and works.

Save the money you'd pay and get some tutoring or outside support. Putting it in now will really help. I do sometimes think that people think getting a report with 'dyslexia' on it is going to change something. If you think it is, in the short term, ie, more provision, then do it but if not then leave it.

Also, consider visual stress/irlen syndrome. Again trickier in younger children as they say different things all the time about what they see when looking at text but do look into it.

[bruffin]

I think the best thing you can do is give him confidence and make sure he doesn't think he is "stupid" because he is behind in reading .
As i said above ds never got a formal diagnosis and was never screened until gcse and was still put on SEN register at both primary and secondary
He got a lot of 1 to 1 for spelling (Stareway to Spelling and rainbow wall). I was told it was because he was very bright and it was obvious that his writing was a long way behind the rest of him, if that makes sense.

[Maldives2006]

A diagnosis should come with recommendations for the school to put into place. School are not experts when planning for SEN and in my experience can be shockingly bad.

There is more than to dyslexia than just spelling and reading and it requires a specialist to assess properly.

Also a diagnosis of dyslexia protects your child under the law (disability act).

[Moorcroft]

diagnosis should come with recommendations for the school to put into place. School are not experts when planning for SEN and in my experience can be shockingly bad.

There is more than to dyslexia than just spelling and reading and it requires a specialist to assess properly.

Also a diagnosis of dyslexia protects your child under the law (disability act)

^This. The vast majority of the assessments I carry out are because the parents are desperate because their child is getting no support in school.

In addition, diagnostic reports carried out at any age can now be used for Disabled Students Allowance provided the assessor has an APC (previously you needed a report carried out after the age of 16 years).

[bruffin]

Maldives, i went through primary and secondary with ds problems.
I know its more than spelling and reading. I said above ds problems included short memory problems.so dont try and tell me im stupid.DH also dyslexic and i know what awful problems he had at school when dyslexia wasnt heard of and they tried to teach him through look and say. Believe me i have been through it. We are living with the consequences.
Believe me confidence in their abilities will make s huge difference. Ds was put in top srts despite only scraping a 3 in written english ,(a 5 in comprension) and thrived in STEM and Humanities, because he knew that he wasnt stupid just had a quirk in his brain.
DH was told he was too thick to do computers and put in remedial classes. Yet he is now a professional engineer, but he has mental health issues from his schooling.
I found if you go in looking for a fight, you usually end up with one.